E: Umps

But Cubs Get Boot

Crew Chief Admits `We Erred` On Key Call

In a game brimming with the kind of tension you find in a late-season, pennant-race showdown, the New York Mets beat the Cubs 8-3 Friday before a packed house of 33,588 at Wrigley Field.

It was a game with great defensive plays, clutch pitching-particularly by the Mets` David Cone-and a near-brawl. But it was the umpires who made it historic, especially crew chief Harry Wendelstedt with his admission of an error by the umps that led to the Mets` victory.

Here`s how it began:

New York sixth, Cubs leading 2-1, one out, Calvin Schiraldi on the mound. Len Dykstra and Lee Mazzilli single to put Mets on first and third.

With two left-handed batters coming up, Cub manager Don Zimmer brings in lefty Pat Perry and tells him if a ball`s hit back to the mound, go for the double play.

Dave Magadan, the first batter, hits Perry`s first pitch back to the mound. Perry doesn`t go for the double play. Instead, he throws home to Jody Davis. Dykstra is caught.

Davis runs Dykstra back toward third, then throws to third baseman Vance Law. Law runs Dykstra toward home, then throws to Perry, covering the plate.

Dykstra jumps. His left elbow flies in the air. Law`s throw hits Dykstra on the helmet. The ball rolls to the bricks behind the plate. Dykstra scores, Mazzilli scores and Magadan winds up on third.

Magadan would score on Darryl Strawberry`s flyball, but never mind that now.

Did Dykstra interfere with Law`s throw?

``Not even close,`` said Mets manager Dave Johnson. ``If they reverse the call, they have to throw me out of the game.``

``It was all on reaction,`` said Dykstra. ``It`s a good thing I stand 5-10 and not 5-9.``

``I didn`t really see the play good enough to argue,`` said Zimmer, who raced out anyway when he saw the usually calm Law going bananas.

``There`s no doubt in my mind he was gauging me as I was coming down the line,`` said Law. ``He intentionally deflected the ball.``

The umpires huddled. They ruled there was no interference.

After the game, they watched the replay.

``From the angle that both the third-base umpire (Greg Bonin) and the home-plate umpire (Dana DeMuth) had,`` said Wendelstedt, who was at first base, ``I asked both, `Did you see any interference?` They felt there was no interference.

``After looking at an instant replay of it right now, I`m not personally happy with what we came up with. Nobody really picked up the interference.

``All we can do is try to do our best, try to do what`s right.

``After seeing the replay, I think we erred.``

Zimmer`s reaction: ``That don`t do me no good.``

It goes in the books as an error for Law and a Cub loss, another in a series of strangely fascinating games between these two rivals this season.

Schiraldi (4-5), who held the Mets to a run on two hits for five innings and left with the lead, took the loss. Cone, who struck out nine in 6 2/3 innings, including Law and Davis with two on in the sixth, improved his record to 9-1.

Dykstra wound up with three hits and made the play of the game, a sensational diving catch on a Ryne Sandberg drive with Cubs on first and third in the seventh. Dawson and Dave Martinez each had three hits for the Cubs, and Martinez dazzled the big crowd and saved a run with a diving catch of his own in the eighth.

It wasn`t until the ninth that things really got out of hand. The Mets were leading 5-3 when Cub reliever Al Nipper, in his first game back from the disabled list, gave up a Howard Johnson homer and three more hits before Mike Capel replaced him with Kevin Elster on second and one out.

Capel struck out Magadan. Then, on ball two of a intentional walk to Strawberry, he sailed the pitch over catcher Damon Berryhill`s head, sending Elster to third.

The next batter was Kevin McReynolds, who had been hit by a Schiraldi pitch in the fifth. When he was grazed by Capel`s 0-2 pitch (``I threw him two sliders; maybe he was looking for a third,`` Capel said later), McReynolds headed for the mound. Capel, no happier than the man he hit, dropped his glove like a left-winger and headed for McReynolds. The benches cleared and teammates intercepted the principals.

No punches were thrown, and no one was ejected. It climaxed one of the more remarkable days this ballpark has seen in a while.

But nothing-not the catches, not the pitching, not the shadow-boxing at the end-could match the moment of an umpire publicly admitting a mistake.

``I never thought I was perfect,`` said Wendelstedt. ``I`ve certainly been told enough times that I`m not.

``We went with what we had to work with. We felt we made the proper decision.``